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No More Zero Days

I need to learn to stop procrastinating. It’s terrible. I could have a nice apartment if I cleaned it up every once and a while. However, I tend to avoid doing that. Instead, I paint, or draw, or surf the internet. Mostly I surf the internet, let’s be honest. It’s like the famous Allie Brosh comic Why I Will Never Be an Adult. I try and I try. Then I give up. I lack the self-discipline and self-motivation to keep my home the way I want it kept. I would love to have it be this clean, cozy refuge from the world. It’s my relaxation place, or it’s supposed to be.

So I have started forcing myself to clean in 5-minute bursts. Once every hour or so that I’m at home, trying to time that 5 minutes to coincide with the stand nag on my Apple Watch. I know that sounds incredibly lame, but it’s amazing what you can do with 5 minutes. But oh man, I have so much recycling to take out? Why does that stuff have to go to the basement 20 floors away?

I am a lazy, lazy person.

I’ve come to accept that.

However, I recently read some advice on reddit by user ryans01 that was super bloody amazing. Really. You should read it. Now. It covers four basic things.

No more zero days. Meaning there are no more days where you do nothing towards your goal. My goal? A clean, relaxed apartment. I’m serious. That is my current life goal. They key is, it doesn’t matter how much you do, as long as you do something. 5 minutes counts.

Be grateful to the three yous. The three yous are Past You, Present You, and Future You. Be grateful to past you for positive things you did in the past, and do favours for future you like they are your best friend. You exercised for 10 minutes yesterday? Thanks past me! Did you make a healthy lunch for tomorrow? That’s for future you! Always think of the three yous.

Forgive yourself for not doing something. That’s right. If you don’t do what you’re supposed to that day, forgive yourself. Being disappointed in yourself doesn’t help.

Exercise and books, self-explanatory.

I did not come up with any of this, just to reiterate. I found it on Reddit. It has really made an impact on me. So I set my No Zero Days goal to have a clean apartment. Not necessarily instantly clean in one day, but in little bits over time. It’s been working so far. Nothing is sparkling but it’s getting there. Once I manage this goal, I’ll set another one.